August 1, 2010…

…Will forever be engraved in my mind.

 

August 1, 2010 was the day Joe became the Bishop of our ward. What a life changing calling. I was scared, worried this would completely change my Joe and I wouldn’t even know him anymore. I was concerned about the amount of stress and weight such a calling entails and the toll it would take on Joe. I was also a little excited; with such a calling, blessings are sure to follow if its held responsibly and humbly. These were all my concerns and fears, I can only imagine what Joe was and still is experiencing!

We’re three weeks in and life has already changed dramatically. The kids and I hardly see Joe now but when we do, whatever we do is filled with happiness, laughter and quality family time. We were concerned about losing some friends but it seems to have only made the bond stronger. Even with the lack of sleep on Joe’s part, he somehow always finds that burst of energy to pull through to the end of whatever he’s doing. Once he makes it through though, he crashes, and crashes hard. You will often find him sleeping when he has a still moment. The relationship with his Dad has definitely gotten stronger. They have so much in common now and Joe has so much he can learn from Lawry.

The blessings are coming in full force as well. Debt is somehow getting paid off, Joe and I communicate better, Enoch has been extremely successful in potty training! Its been two weeks since he’s had a major accident. You can’t know the extreme bliss and excitement and just how proud we are of him for doing this! In our excitement we bought him a PET! (that post to come soon!) Life is just moving forward and at the speed of light it seems.

I know the road ahead is not going to be easy all of the time, and this will take a toll on Joe but I definitely know and feel that this will help us all grow. There is much to be learned and much to take in. I am so grateful for Joe and his amazing spirit, strength and knowledge of the gospel. I’m grateful for my parents and his parents. Without them, we wouldn’t be the people we are today. I’m grateful for my two beautiful little boys and they’re sweet spirits. I am so grateful for this gospel and the blessings I’ve received in this life. I know this church is true, I know President Monson is a true living Prophet of God on this earth today. I know Jesus Christ is my Redeemer and my Savior. I could not be who I am today without this Gospel and I hope to continue to follow in His footsteps.

-Natalie

 

Thanks to Todd R.(Joe's cousin) for taking photos on his AWESOME phone and also for cutting Joe’s hair and doing an awesome job. I was a dink and totally spaced bringing the camera. The thought never crossed my mind. So enjoy the photos!

Joe’s “Uuuh” face.

 

Chatting with Brother Stevens

Chatting with Brother Stevens and President Dourny

 

Yes, I’m a cheese ball. I’ll admit it. I was shaking with nerves the whole time.

Enoch was sleeping so he missed the family shot ( sad panda, as Amber would say), but I’m glad we got

a family (sort of) shot. :D

wellness checks!

The boys had their wellness checks. I was SUCH a dope and I scheduled them for the same day because Enoch would be 4, the same time Travis would be 15 months.

DISASTER. Joe was supposed to have the day off but holidays sort of screwed up our plans. Oh well.

We survived. The boys got 3 shots each and Travis had to get some routine blood work done.

 

STATS:

 

Enoch – 4 Year Check Up

Height – 40 inches

Weight – 37 lbs

Speech, Motor Skills, etc. – Perfect

 

Travis – 15 Month Check Up

Height – 31 inches

Weight – 24 lbs

Speech, Motor Skills, etc. – Great!

 

They did well. Travis screamed everytime a nurse or Dr came near him, let along touched him. He was happy when it was over.

Enoch LOVES going to the Dr. He’s old enough now that he can answer most of the Doc’s questions by himself.

He even asks the Doc questions. Are you going to listen to my heart beat Dr? Did you want to check my ears Dr?

What about my stomach Dr? Is the cookie monster in my stomach this time?

It has become a lot of fun for Enoch to visit the Dr.

I can only hope Trav will eventually enjoy these visits too.

friends

Well, we have been very blessed to make some new friends. Its not often, once you’re married, that you find a couple you & your spouse just “click” with.

Then you have kids, and then its even harder to find a couple, with children, that you, your spouse, and your children, just “click” with.

It just doesn’t happen very often.

Then, we met the Perry’s.

The Perry’s are in our ward, they live five minutes from us, they are laid back, funny, and UBER nice.

Joe mentioned to me, when they first moved in, that Mrs. Perry used to take ballet. SWEET! I need a dance buddy.

Well, she became much more than that (although, we have yet to take dance lessons together).

We’ve bonded, through good times & bad, and you only meet friends like these guys every once and a while.

Mr. Perry & Mr. Doxey get along like peanut butter & jelly. They just mesh well. Its SO awesome to go on FAMILY dates.

Mr. E and Mr. M are just AWESOME together and they always have a blast.

Mr. E hasn’t had a friend in a while that he could play all day with, go on a hike with(ALL DAY LONG) and STILL want to spend more time together.

And Mr. T, well, he just loves Mr. M. Mr. M is right between Mr. E and Mr. T’s ages. He just fits perfectly with the two of them.

So, this is a THANK YOU to you, The Perrys, for being our friends. We love you guys. And we hope there are many more awesome years ahead of us, together, as friends.

 

enoch’s 4th birthday celebrations

 

 

So, from the previous post, you already know that Enoch has turned 4. On his actual BIRTH day, my parents came over and we did cake and presents at home with Joe’s parents too.  I need to get better at taking pictures of Enoch with everyone.

Enoch was blessed with an awesome swing set from our neighbors a week before his birthday. Their 3 boys had grown out of it so they handed it down to Enoch. AWESOME birthday surprise for Enoch. He loves the thing.

 

 

We opened gifts first.

Enoch got:

Toy Story 3 for PSP – from Grandpa Rusty

A cool monkey shirt, matching shorts, Toy Story 3 book, and a Go Fish Game – from GrandMom Kathy

WhackaMole and cool Dinosaur clothes – from Tutu Bonnie & Papa Lawry

Leapster 2 and Toy Story 3 for it – from Mom, Dad & Travis

Enoch also got the exact same Dinosaur card from both his Grandmothers. :D

And I actually made his cake this year. Its nothing great but he loved it. :D

 

Happy Birthday Enoch!

summertime fun

I love summer – its one of those seasons where you can let your kids sit in the back yard and eat ice cream to their heart’s content. Enoch and Travis got cones the other day…Travis loved the ice cream.

He loved it so much that he even finished Enoch’s for him. Thats why he has two in the lower picture.

   

 

Playing ball with GrandMom

family zoo trip

 

Our good friends Randall & Andrea were in town with their cute little boy Bennett.

So, we hit the zoo. It was a hot day but it was so much fun at the Denver Zoo. I seriously love the fact that we have Zoo passes and we can just pack up and go anytime. I remember as a child, doing anything like this seemed like so much effort. You had to pack everyone and everything up, food for a whole day and drinks, etc. Then you had to drive the great distance to where ever the zoo was.

It just doesn’t seem so difficult anymore. The Zoo is seriously a 15-20 minute drive from our house, we pack up sandwhiches, drinks and snacks. Make sure we have hats, sunscreen and a stroller and we’re out the door. I love the Zoo and so do the kids. Its the best way to spend 2-4 hours (depending on who you go with) one day a week. And its exercise!

 

  

lazy

Sorry, I've been lazy but I have a lot to post about so look for the new posts soon!

-Nati

enoch is 4

 

4 years ago today, at 3:27 PM, Enoch Andrew Iosepa came into our lives.

What a blessing he has been. He has changed our lives for the better. I couldn’t imagine my life without him.

At the age of 4, Enoch is a wonderful person. He has sincere concern for those around him, he is quick to apologize, he loves being a big brother, his love for elephants has only grown stronger, dinosaurs are his favorite, and he can name several dinosaurs. We recently had a Missionary in our ward who would quiz him on the dinosaur names and Enoch was pretty bummed when he got transferred. In MOST cases, Enoch has no fear. He isn’t shy when it comes to asking people whatever is on his mind. He is a fun, upbeat little person. He loves to swim, play in the back yard, help his Papa with yard work, sing with his Tutu, play games with his Grandmom, watch movies with his Grandpa, he loves to wrestle with his Daddy and his little brother. He is a really GOOD helper. He LOVES to help, whatever it may be. His latest is, he loves to help me cook and clean the dishes. I found him helping his Papa screw bolts back on to the under side of the van one day. He helped his Daddy build the swing set in the back yard. He is just a helpful person. I can’t wait for the day that he loves to help clean up his toys!

Enoch loves to count his numbers and He loves the letter E. A passion he has right now is playing board games or card games. He also loves to play the games on our iPhones. He knows where to go to download more apps, thank goodness he doesn’t know the password to download them!

One of the things I’m very proud of with Enoch; he gets along with just about anybody. We have yet to come across a person, child or adult, that Enoch does not like. I love this about him. I hope he never grows out of this. He has such love for people, I have a feeling that he will grow up to help and love many people.

He is such a blessing to us and I thank my Heavenly Father for everyday that I get to spend with him.

Happy Birthday Enoch. I love you.

 

 

The Birth Story

Enoch was an "OOPS" baby. I was on birth control when we got pregnant with him. So he has always been a surprise.
I went into preterm labor with Enoch a week before he was born - 35 weeks to be exact. 2 days after being released from bed rest, I woke up on June 17th at 9:35 am and my water broke. I was shocked. Joe and I quickly packed our overnight bag and headed to the hospital. My contractions were not terrible by any means, they felt like period cramps.
Once we got to the hospital we got the Maternity Suite, the biggest room on the floor and were ready for Enoch to make his appearance. I got my epidural and slept for a while. Later on, a nurse came in to move the monitor that was tracking Enoch's heart beat because they had lost the heart beat and just assumed that he had moved. Well, she couldn't find the HB so she paged a few more nurses. Then she paged the Dr and once Dr Jones got there, they did an internal monitor, TWICE, so I was on all fours on my bed wondering what the heck was going on. Then my Dr finally told me that I needed a C-section. I started BALLING and they wheeled me out of my room and down the hall to the OR. I remember being prepped ( them rubbing iodine all over my tummy) and a nurse putting the mask over my face as I was asking where Joe was. The next thing I remember was waking up in my room and them having everyone in the bathroom so they could take a quick x-ray to make sure they hadn't left any surgical tools in my stomach because the C-section was emergency. Then I got to meet Enoch. He was beautiful! Just perfect, he was just perfect.

18 hours after Enoch's birth, the nurses were curious because he hadn't had a bowl movement at all and he kept spitting up all his formula. They thought maybe we could try nursing and see if that helped things along. Well, he just spit that stuff up too so the nurse that was helping me breastfeed thought maybe if she played around with his bum-hole, she could get things agitated and moving. Well, she took a peek and guess what? NO butthole. We thought she was joking.

Enoch was transferred to Children's Hospital in Downtown Denver that evening. He was scheduled for surgery the next day at 8 pm. Talk about stress. Joe went with Enoch while I waited for my Dr to discharge me. I was discharged early because my Dr knew I needed to be with my baby. They removed my staples and I was on my way. My Mom was with me and drove me downtown to Children's. She insisted that I use a wheel chair but I just wanted to see my baby so I walked all the way to his room which was across the hospital and on the 4th floor. What a walk! My incision bled some so from then on I used a wheelchair. Enoch had his first surgery when he was 2 days old. My newborn had a colostomy bag. It was so odd because he was so new and tiny...

He has what's called VACTERL association(click on vacterl for wikepedia info). So, he didn't have a bumhole and that let the Dr's know that they needed to check 7 other places in his little body to see if the related issues were present. He had a total of 3 issues, Central Line Defects. They go from the head all the way down the spine. Enoch had 2 holes in his heart, ASD & VSD, no bumhole and his tailbone was shaped REALLY funny. The holes in his heart closed, he had a total of 3 surgeries before he was 6 months old to fix his little bottom (which is totally normal now) and his tailbone will have no negative affect on him at all.

it grows back

Joe was in desperate need of a haircut a few weeks ago. He BEGGED me to let him have a mullet for only two days. I gave in and this is the end result.

 

 

Yes, he did wear this to work for two whole days. I almost let him wear it to church because I thought people’s expressions would be pretty funny.

But, the responsible adult in me ruled, and we cut it after two days.

 

 

I did Trav’s hair one day, I can’t remember where we were going, but this was totally by accident. I have yet to duplicate it. I’m so glad I took a few pictures. :D

weaning

 

 

Travis is finally weaned. It took about a week to get him totally off the nursing. Joe slept in another room so he could actually get up in the mornings for work.

Travis was stuck on the morning nurse; it was the same with Enoch, except, Enoch weaned himself. Travis just hung on for as long as he could until I finally put my foot down and said, “"I’m done!” I honestly do not understand how anyone can nurse past a year. 2 months past a year is way too much for me. They are too big to be nursing! I’m happy that we are done and he seems to be much better off for it.

 

Trav also got a haircut and is walking. May has been busy for Travis.

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